Bopp Goes The Season

Eugen Bopp made a surprise 'return' to the starting line up yesterday but it wasn't enough as the Alex still can't see any light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Bopp, it is fair to say, has had a dreadful time since signing in the summer. His three previous starts had all come out of position on the left wing and his last appearance for the Alex, before yesterday, was a 12 minute cameo against Yeovil in November. In the mean time he spent much of his time on the bench, never being called upon and watching dreadful performance after dreadful performance. In January he was told he could leave on a free if he could find a new club, so his call-up yesterday came as a bit of a surprise to most.

It seems, too, that he impressed. Whether this was due to Steve Holland finally giving him a game in a more familiar position, tucked in just behind the striker(s), is not yet certain (although most likely). From various reports, Bopp was the shining light of yesterday and one of the better players on the pitch.

As you will know by now though, it was far from enough to save us from our thirteenth defeat of the season. Three absolutely dreadful defensive situations led to three rather embarrassing goals from Brighton. Three-nil at half time somehow came as no shock and Brighton saw out the second half in comfort.

We're now in danger of being left behind in the survival bid. With teams immediately above us having one, sometimes two, games in hand, a quick glance at the table suggest we could be as much as 5 points adrift if all those games are won (assuming they aren't against each other).

Like many fans though. It seems irrelevant as we don't know where our next point is coming from. League leaders Swansea next week, followed by a trip to Orient and games against Carlisle and Leeds. I actually had the Brighton game as our only chance of points this month, but now I'll have to cross my fingers and hope for lucky points against those in and around the top 6.

If we have zero points from February though then I think we could be as good as down come Easter.